3-098-599 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Columbus at the gates of the Convent of Santa María de la Rábida, asking for bread and water for his son, 1858. Italian explorer Christopher Columbus' (1451-1506) arrives with his son Diego at the gates of La Rábida monastery, where the friars offer them refreshment to ease the fatigue of their weary voyage. Columbus' exhausted son leans against him. In the foreground are the small dog that has accompanied the travellers on their journey, and a basket of provisions with cloth and knife. The exhibition catalogue of the National Exhibition of Fine Arts of 1858, says: "While receiving this humble refreshment, the guardian of the convent, Friar Juan Pérez de Marchena, happened to pass by; he noticed with admiration the presence of that man, struck up a conversation with him and soon learned about the particularities of his life." The Franciscan friar Juan Pérez (died before 1513) was a companion of Christopher Columbus. They met in 1484 or 1485, at the friary in La Rábida, near Palos in Andalusia. Friar Antonio de Marchena, a cosmographer, also lived there. Historians have mistakenly combined the two men into one person: the two names Perez and Marchena serving to describe one and the same person by speaking of the Father Guardian of La Rábida as Friar Juan Pérez de Marchena.